LONDON — Britain's economy picked up speed in the second quarter of 2015, when it expanded by 0.7 percent compared with the previous three-month period.

The Office of National Statistics said Tuesday that the economic growth in the April-June period accelerated from a rate of 0.4 percent in the previous quarter.

The data release comes only days after Bank of England of Governor Mark Carney suggested that interest rates could rise from their record low of 0.5 percent as soon as the end of the year as the recovery gathers pace.

Chris Williamson, analyst at Markit.com, says that the Bank of England had been expecting such a "growth trajectory." But he notes the strong data support the case for rates to start rising sooner rather than later.